various artists - Hold Your Ground

You have to understand, now during a time when so much is available at the strike of a few keys, the depths we'd resort to in the 90s to obtain recordings that were only a few years old. If it was something contemporary, you'd typically be able to find it at a good underground record store, via mail order, or a show distro. If it was a few years older, you might be able turn up a secondhand copy, or maybe it was just temporarily out of print. But if it was more obscure than your typical Dischord, Revelation, or Victory catalog, you might be shit out of luck. If you were like me, in that I bought a ton of CDs because they were easier to transport, you'd split the difference, and end up buying the Lost & Found version. Because that was literally the only one you could turn up with any regularity.

This 1994 sampler from the Hanover-based quasi-legitimate label remains a great place to start to see what they were up to, and serves as the late 80s version of Killed By Death for kids like yours truly. There were contributions from the first wave of DCHC (Void, Government Issue, Artificial Peace), NYHC legends (Warzone, Side By Side, Judge, Violent Children), and contemporary Euro hardcore bands (Brightside, Rykers, Crivits). It was also the only place I could track down Project X, Abused, and Citizens Arrest. L&F kept bands like Unity and Urban Waste available long after those bands had broken up.

Should they have paid the bands for what they released? Well, duh. Should they have asked permission? Absolutely. But I'm glad to have had exposure to the Warzone tracks that went out of print when Caroline quit pressing "Don't Forget the Struggle...", and the Ignite cuts when Conversion went out of business. The FU's records that Xclaim! put out are amazing classics; can you imagine knowing they exist, but can't find a copy to listen to other than a 3rd generation tape for years afterwards? Lost & Found filled that void, and, legitimately or not, kept a great deal of classic HC available for so many kids in the 90s. And that's why I don't feel bad sharing this one today.

Discogs

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various artists - I Am Not A Test Market (1994 Restless Winter Yearbook)

It's the winter of 1994, and whilst picking up Brainiac and Guided By Voices records for your cool niece for Hanukkah, a sympathetic clerk at the local record store throws this into your shopping bag. And because who doesn't like free stuff, you smile and thank them. You slap this Restless Records catalog sampler, featuring two tracks each from eight bands, into your Discman with the tape deck adapter, and dig right in. Here's what you hear:

• aMiniature was from San Diego, and came from that angular, post hardcore/math rock tradition exemplified in the area by the immortal Drive Like Jehu. Both tracks come from their second record, 1994's Depthfiveratesix.
• Surrender, You Freak was album #2 from Seattle's Sister Psychic, a band who I'd never heard of until picking this up. Definitely hailing from the Neil Young folk rock branch of mid-90s alternative rock.
• Swains' second and third records got issued Stateside by Restless; these two songs come from the third and final full-length Sonic Mind Junction. Apparently, the folks on Discogs describe them as "progressive house", but I'll just give them the "leftfield" genre and move on with my life.
• Smut were a quartet of Minneapolis punks who made music along the same lines as Babes In Toyland, so it makes sense they put out records via Lori Barbero's imprint Spanish Fly Records. It was tied in with Twin/Tone, which, by this point, Restless was distributing, so BOOM! two tracks from their debut full-length.
• Louisville's Crain was part of the end of Slamdek, and helped bridge that label's weirdo punk/HC aesthetic with the weirdo indie rock vibe that'd emerge via Rodan and the For Carnation a couple years later. Heater came out in 1994 and was Crain's swan song.
• I knew God And Texas almost exclusively from a track they contributed to the Australian comp "Self Mutilation - A Compilation Of Compilations", which I've never owned an actual copy of but managed to acquire a dubbed tape somewhere around 1996 and treasured ever since. God And Texas were one of those noise rock shit stirrers that all gravitated to Chicago; both tracks here originated on 1993's Criminal Element, which is a pretty great record from that era.
• The Hang-Ups, like Smut, hailed from the Twin Cities. Unlike Smut, the Hang-Ups made super tuneful jangle pop and had a record co-produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. He's After Me was released on Clean Records, distributed by Restless, and was the source of the Hang-Ups' two songs contained herein.
• And, finally, a pair of songs from Giant Sand, the still-active, ever-prolific, Tucson-located alt-country band. Purge & Slouch was Giant Sand's third record for Restless, their 10th overall, is now 33 years old, which breaks my spirit, b/c I remember playing songs from this record on the radio in 1995.

So, there you have it. A sampling of an American indie rock label during the peak of Cobain. A lot of it still holds up. But maybe that's because I came of age during this time.

.Discogs

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various artists - Working Holiday

Merry Xmas, friends! Let's keep it short and sweet today with this two-disc compilation of (most of) Simple Machines Records' "Working Holiday" 7" series. As per the notes, it's missing the original Bratmobile, Swirlies, and Jonny Cohen tracks, but adds a second disc of live tracks from the Working Holiday festival. There's plenty of good mid-90s indie rock to be found here in the form of Tsunami, Superchunk, Jawbox, Lungfish, Codeine, Versus, and Scrawl. The live disc adds Archers Of Loaf, Rodan, and Crain. I'm a sucker for anything Simple Machines put together, which is why I hope received the requested copy of Tsunami's "Loud As Is" from Santa this year.

Now, get back to your family, your homies, your feasting, your gift opening, a crackling fire, and/or a bottle of brown liquor. As the saying goes, however you keep Christmas is between you and the Lord. I'm taking a few weeks off to enjoy California's Central Coast and my in-laws' famous hospitality. See you sometime in January 2026.

Discogs

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various artists - Spin This V

I've been laying pretty low on purchases since the first of the year. But I broke edge a few days ago; a record nerd can't stay out of the thrift store for long. I stumbled across this now-31-year-old sampler from Spin Magazine, and immediately flashed back to seeing the video for "Undone (The Sweater Song" in my neighbor's den for the first time. His folks kept the shades well drawn, so what natural light made it in had this yellow tinge to it. We stopped what we doing at the first beats from Patrick Wilson; it was unlike anything we'd ever heard up 'til then. Fuckin' Weezer, man. Always brings a smile to my face.

Plus: Mazzy Star! Frente! covering New Order! Major label Meat Puppets! Morphine! Guided By Voices! Plus a bunch of stuff that 30 years on I still don't recognize outside of a radio station giveaway bin. Kinda perfect for this space. I can never resist throwing a buck to a animal rescue or a job's program in return for something like this.

Discogs

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various artists - Northcore: The Polar Scene Compilation

Just your run of the mill Swedish punk and hardcore comp from 30 years ago, split between bands I knew already and bands I didn't.until I laid my paws on this eighth release from the esteemed Burning Heart Records.

Yeah, so I know Refused all too well, Randy, Fireside, Doughnuts, and Abhinanda. I feel varying levels of interest in them. But to discover Drift Apart or Breach here was well worth the $2 I think I spent earlier this year. Somebody like Shredhead isn't what I would seek out, what with their proto-nu metal groove thrash, but it's not bad. It's the kind of scene curiousity that existed a lot back in the 90s and seems to have died away as the internet consumes us all.

Discogs

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various artists - Amateur Soundtrack - A Film By Hal Hartley

"I am a star / A Hal Hartley movie / I read my lines / Straight faced in the mirror"

 Kind Of Like Spitting, "Your Favorite Actor"

Here's another Matador soundtrack from the mid 90s, this time from Hal Hartley''s fifth film, 1994's Amateur.

Does it feature Martin Donovan? You bet it does.

Is Parker Posey in it? She is not.

It does star Isabelle Huppert, a secret crush of mine, as an ex-nun named "Isabelle" who gets wrapped up in criminal hijinks spining out of her new career as a pornographer.

Did you get all that? I was told recently I had a way with log lines, but I dunno.

This is one of the places where Liz Phair, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus Lizard could comfortably rub elbows back in those days. And I find the Ned Rifle/Jeffrey Taylor score to be a pretty great appendix to what would have otherwise been a decent Lollapalooza 1995 sampler.

8/10. Now go watch the movie. You're going to have to find a physical copy, tho; it's ain't on streaming here in the States.

Discogs

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various artists - Cheapo Crypt Sampler

There was a time in my capricious youth where I balked at paying $7 for a sampler of preivously-released songs. And, thankfully, there was someone there to help me pull my head out of my spacious rectum.

You see, this one has gotten a ton of play in the approximately 20-some-odd years since I nabbed my first copy of it. When I first encountered it, I only knew the JSBE and Thee Headcoats, both via some late night MTV encounters and Spin magazine backpages. But the Oblivians and Gories, a pair of Memphis creeps if ever there were such a duo, were what held onto me, with "Nitroglycerine" and "Sunday You Need Love" making their way onto a few turn of the millenium mixtapes.

While my initial copy eventually disappeared in one of the periodic cleansings I conducted back then (I miss my old tape collection), it was one of the first things I downloaded when I got my first iPod and high speed internet connection. Which long-dead blog did I find this on? Who was the keeper of sleazy punk that provided me with a digital copy in gleaming 128kbps? The name and place has been lost to the ages, but whenever I needed a fair swath of 90s underground rock, I'd turn to this, and turn it up loud.

A few months ago, I was trawling eBay for inexpensively priced CDs (as is my habit). A seller in Ohio had a stack of sixteen Crypt CDs for $100 for sale. It was a pretty fair price for a bunch of records I owned digitally, but no longer held physical copies of. I saved it, and a few days later came an offer to pick it up for $80, I couldn't turn it down. Both New Bomb Turks full-lengths, both Gories LPs, the Raunch Hands, Pagans, and a pair of Lazy Cowgirls CDs? How could I pass? I'm not made of stone. And to cap it off, a copy of "Cheapo Crypt Sampler", here to be re-ripped at 320kbps and shared with y'all.

I didn't even have to pay $7 this time around. How's that for a good time?

Discogs

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various artists - Infinite Zero Promotional CD #1

I initially had another release planned for today; you'll get that one next Monday.

But then James Chance passed away Tuesday, June 18th, and I felt like it was a good time to share this label sampler from 30 years ago. I remember finding this in the promo bin at the first record store I worked in, just a year after it came out. But it was a revelation for me, led off by the Contortions' "Design To Kill", and followed by the likes of Devo, Gang of Four, Alan Vega, and Tom Verlaine. Hell, there's a LL Cool J track here. I'm guessing it's a result of Infinite Zero being a Rick Rubin/Henry Rollins joint venture.

RIP to a real one. There ain't many of his like left.

Discogs

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various artists - If I Were A Carpenter

Let's face it; this is probably the only time I'll ever post something with Sheryl Crow on it.

But this is an important record, right? There had been tribute records before, but this one came out on A&M Records, home to Burt Bacharach and Cat Stevens and Janet Jackson and the Police and, yes, the Carpenters. And for every Sheryl Crow and Dishwalla, who both easily fit under the broad "alternative" banner 30 years ago, there were also Redd Kross, Shonen Knife, and Babes In Toyland. It also led to a very memorable (to me) video of Sonic Youth performing "Superstar". Would it surprise you to learn that Richard Carpenter doesn't like that version of "Superstar"? 

No, that's not Margaret Keane artwork; it's a reasonable facsimile of Karen & Richard listening to records. It's an indelible image from that time for me; I remember seeing POP in the backroom of the first record store I worked in, a small signifier that I was amongst fellow travelers, weirdos who might put their own twist on the most saccharine of art.

Discogs

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various artists - Yoyo A Go Go

It's been a few years since I last posted anything from Pat Maley's Yoyo Recordings. But it's been thirty years since the first Yoyo A Go Go, and since I'm less than 80 miles away, as opposed to the 2,800 or so that I was back then, I thought it was time to pay this one a visit, and share it with you fine peep-holes.

Let me tell you what I recollect about this time. I was listening to my cassette of International Piop Underground Convention a lot in the spring of 1994, so when I heard that something similar was going to take place that summer...well, I didn't give it a ton of thought, because how was I going to go from Boones Mill, Virginia to magical Olympia? Especially since I found out a few weeks before school ended that we were leaving the sticks for suburban Baltimore,

But it was definitely intriguing. And, in retrospect, a little bit gumption could have gotten me out there on a four-day Greyhound with more than a few of my hard-earned Taco Bell dollars in my pocket. And who would I have seen? Unwound, Heavens to Betsy, Excuse 17, and Team Dresch remain the big names for me, even this far down the line. How cool would it have been to see Codeine, or Cub, or two thirds of Yo La Tengo, or Neutral Milk Hotel? Would I have even been into it back then? Or would it have been one of those moments I would have only appreciated in retrospect?

I suppose it's better to regret something you have done, rather than somehing you haven't done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get up in someone's face and scream "SATAN!" over and over again.

Discogs

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various artists - The New Wave In Jazz

I swear to God, I didn't die in a ditch over New Year's.

I actually went to the in laws in Central California, where I had a pretty rad time with my recently mobile and speechifying niece. But I forgot to bring my laptop, which meant a month without any blogging. Sorry, gang.

I may come back later to flesh this one out. I don't have much in mind right this second, so stay tuned for the postscript. It's ridiculous that this one hasn't been reissued for 30 years, and that the Ayler cut that appeared on the original LP isn't present on this 1994 GRP/Impulse! CD. Still, it's a killer early document of the burgeoning free jazz scene in NYC, one that drew pretty polarized reviews back in the day.

Either you get it, or you don't.

Discogs

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various artists - Johnny Hanson Presents Puck Rock Vol. 1

As the weather gets colder and wetter, a man's sporting mind moves to hockey. And what better soundtrack than a Canadian, hockey-themed punk rock compilation, fronted by the heretofore-unknown fourth Hanson Brothrer, Johnny?

Released by Wrong Records in 1994, this one features all the mid-80s Canuck luminaries you'd expect to find on a release like this. Joey Shithead makes two appearances; one fronting D.O.A., the other fronting Cub. SNFU stands side by side with NoMeansNo side project Hanson Brothers. The greatest discovery for me was hearing Jughead's "Hockey Song", who sound like Motörhead playing bluegrass, with the attendant fantastic results.

There's a second volume that, if I find it for a less than $5, I'm guaranteed to pick up. Just a real fun time.

Discogs

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various artists - Eternity: An East Coast Hardcore Compilation

This here's a super solid entry into the canon of mid-90s hardcore, featuring a trio of contributions from DC's McTiernan axis (Ashes, Battery, Damnation A.D.), as well as great tracks from Lifetime and Ressurrection, and a song each from Dayspring and Trial By Jury, hailing from Virginia. Rounding this one out is label owner Craig Chapman's band, Soulow; easily the least impressive cut here, but their only recorded output, and tracked by Ken Olden of Damnation A.D./Battery.

It's a nice snapshot of what went down at the Safari Club in DC, a space that I thought had burned down before I moved to Baltimore, and thus never attended. But I guess I got left off the flier guest list, or it was just more comfortable driving north or west to Allentown or Hagerstown or Easton or Miltown for HC shows.

Hot tip: The Ashes song slams...makes you wonder why they have never gotten the recognition they so wildly deserve.

Discogs

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Elvin Jones "Special Quartet" – Tribute To John Coltrane: A Love Supreme

I may not believe in God, but I do believe that "A Love Supreme" is sacred music.

Here's drummer Elvin Jones' recreating one of my most treasured recordings with Wynton Marsalis rearranging the music for trumpet. It never got released here in the States; this is an EU release.

It ranks fourth of my list of recordings of "A Love Supreme".

Discogs

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Candy Machine - A Modest Proposal

Last week, I wrote a bit about Candy Machine's third and final LP.

This week, it's their second full length, released by Minneapolis' Skene Records and later picked up by EastWest Records as Baltimore's contribution to the Great Punk Acquisition Frenzy Of 1994.

I'm not sure what A&R thought this was a good record to throw out to the record buying public, but I'm grateful they did. It's my favorite CM record.

Discogs

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Alan Vega - New Raceion

It's the end of the month, and I'm clearing the decks with the record that's been living in my Mediafire files for the longest time. It's time to share Alan Vega's 1993 album, "New Raceion".

At the risk of seeming like a dick, I've run out of things to say about Vega's early 90s output. I'm glad it exists; it's not anything I listen to regularly (unlike the 1st Suicide record). Here you go; "enjoy" it.

Discogs

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Contortions - Buy

Fuhhhhhhhhhhhh...this record is sooooooooo good. Like, "knock your dick in the dirt with the ants and cocaine" and "slap yr mommy" good. Without a doubt one of the highlights of no wave and the Downtown scene and definitely probably my favorite James Chance recording. At least for today.

Words escape me. Skronk away.

Postscript: I didn't know it when I wrote this, but the masters at Superior Viaduct just announced a vinyl reissue of "Buy" is coming in June, all for the measly cost of two sawbucks. This is a MUST own.

Discogs

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シェラック - Live In Tokyo

Shellac of North America record no. 5. A full blown banger that was released in Japan by K.K. Null's home, Nux Organization, and one that only ever came Stateside via bootlegs. This was ripped from my own bootleg copy of the Nux release. I would argue I prefer it over "At Action Park", but I think it's because I tend to get contrarian about Shellac. Which is what I assume esteemed poker player Mr. Albini would prefer.

I learned today, in between boxing up a bunch of CDs and watching the entire first season of "Reacher", that the founder of [shiny grey monotone], Ipecac, died in 2021. To quote his running mate Grey:

I feel an obligation to carry on in his honor because as goofy as blogging about music can be, it meant a lot to him, and the power of music is real. Harnessing these seemingly magical currents out of thin air in a way that makes music really is beguiling, and even after punishing my ears with it for decades, I still find the same thrill in hearing just the right combination of sounds. It will never cease to amaze.

Whenever I feel like stopping the writing permanently, I end up coming across another goddamned record like this, and I'm drawn to a very similar emotion as that which Grey refers to above. It is a solopistic, quixotic gesture to keep blogging for free about relatively obscure recordings in 2022. Yet I must, because there's someone who hasn't experienced this magical moment, captured 29 years ago and thousands of miles away, and to keep that magic to myself would be a sin.

Discogs

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Tori Amos - Europe 1992

Rabbit, rabbit, old friends. Welcome to March 2022. Apparently, I only remember to wish you a "Rabbit, Rabbit" every March.

Here's some live Tori Amos from 1992...just here, a piano, a German audience, songs from "Little Earthquakes", and a pair of Zep and Nirvana covers. I found this a couple years back on a Goodwill shelf for $3, and who am I to turn down a Tori Amos bootleg for $3? Who are you to turn it down, for that matter? You think you're too good for 30-year-old alternative rock, back when that meant something?

OK, I'll calm down now.

Discogs

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Pee Tanks - Picnic With Your Mom

Well, at least I know honored pal o' the blog and regular mix master Jonder is stopping by. Glad to have you, old chum.

I was kinda surprised that I haven't shared this, a classic Maryland punk rock record that is FUCK ME 28 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR! The Pee Tanks were the only Baltimore (ok, Annapolis [ok, Bowie {?}]) band I'd already heard when I moved there in 1994, courtesy of their cut from the still-classic "Baltimore: The City That Breeds" comp that someone slapped onto a mixtape for me. I'm not certain I ever got to see them, but this was an early purchase from Reptilian during one of my first visits there, and has lived in my collection ever since. Dare I say this sits well in any collection of ALL, Crimpshrine, Less Than Jake, and all manner of proto-.org-core bands?

It's worth jamming out to, is what I'm saying.

Discogs

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